“You see the gloves come off and you’re like … ‘Joey?’” Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski said. “Me, personally? I freakin’ loved it.”

Johansen kept his gloves on the rest of the way and played a more recognizable style.

With 3:01 remaining, Johansen picked off a pass, headed the other direction and beat Montreal goaltender Carey Price with two Canadiens on his back, leading the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory in front of 22,273.

“Everyone (on the bench) was saying ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot,’” Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. “He was off-balance, but it found its way into the net, which was kind of surprising to see because it seemed like everything we threw at the net was stopped by Price.”

The Blue Jackets generated 40 shots on goal to Montreal’s 27, and they outhit the Canadiens 36-17. It can be said that they mostly dominated this game during 5-on-5 play.

Where the Jackets struggled was on the power play. But an 0-for-8 performance with the man-advantage was able to be whitewashed by the two points.

“You take the two points, and we’re happy now,” said Johansen, who won 18 of 22 faceoffs. “I’m really proud and happy I was able to score in that situation because it would have been really tough to play like that and come out of here with anything less than two points.”

Derek MacKenzie and Brandon Dubinsky also scored for the Blue Jackets, and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves.